Archive for December, 2011

On 14 November, I woke up to cramps, had a show, and lost a bit of the mucus plug. Called my doctor, and he said to wait it out, and if it continued after an hour to check in to the hospital.

That was 7.30am when I called him. I was having contractions 5 minutes apart, and deep down I knew I was going to see my baby that day. I had some fried meehoon for breakfast, and mama, upon waking up and seeing me pacing up and down the house, took emergency leave that day. Let it be known that I threw up everything even on the day I gave birth! I took a long hot shower, washed my hair, and was cringing and holding on to the bathroom walls when the contractions came.

Hubs who was in Klang was alerted via SMS, and he made his way to my place in Damansara, and arrived at about 8-ish. I think I was distracting myself by going on Facebook, blogging a little, repacking my hospital bag and what not. At 9am, we made our way to the hospital. The worst part was making my way from my apartment to the visitor’s parking where hubs had parked his car, it felt like I was walking from Malaysia to Nigeria. Had to stop and manage the contractions while they came, while at the same time not alarming the people who were walking about.

Got to the hospital, got the fetal monitor strapped on me, and it showed my contractions peaking and subsiding. Some smartypantsone thought it would be smart to update me on the intensity of the contractions – “it’s going up, 68,69,72” I swear it made things 100 times worse. Till I asked him to please shut up 😛 Our friend then proceeded to tell me a joke about some asses people on a plane, but thank God the doctor came in before he could continue. (I still dont know the end of the joke).

I was given a vaginal exam and went YEowwwwyeowwwowwww!!! The dr then announced that I was 2cm dilated, BUT baby was in a compound presentation, meaning that her arm was making it’s way out together with her head, and there would be a risk of a fracture. Hence I had to undergo an emergency C-section.

It all happened so quickly from then on. I was wheeled into the operating theater, briefed by the anaesthetist and my gynaecologist, and was given a spinal block which numbed sensations from waist down, but I could still feel pressure being applied. The anaesthetist was a really nice Malay lady, no doubt a mother herself, who put me at ease and said comforting words. My favourite item in the whole operating theater was this fan/hose like thing which blew warm air under the sheets onto my chest. It was really welcome in that freezing place. I wanted to crack a joke about my gynae’s white rubber boots not complementing his blue scrubs, but decided against it 😛

The hubs was beside me, in scrubs too, holding my hand, and thankfully minus the jokes.

There was a burning smell, pushing, prodding out in my abdomen and I heard a remark by my amused anaesthetist, to which my gynae replied, “it’s the arm”. I guess he was trying to pry that stubborn arm out.

I heard her cry. And I cried.

They took her aside, and did the basic checks before she was placed near my face, all gooey. I cried some more, and told her how much I loved her, always had, always will.

They proceeded to clean her up, weigh her and gave her her necessary shots. Little Leah weighed 2.66kgs at birth. And while the doctors stitched me up, the hubs followed Leah to the nursery.

I have been exclusively breastfeeding, and that itself started out pretty rocky, but I perservered. I honestly think breastfeeding has turned out to be tougher than labour itself. But things are going well now, touchwood. Will try and write a post on it when (IF!) I have the time.

Typing this with one hand while the little koala is latching on to me is proving to be HARD. So I’ll end here, with a picture of my little Leah wearing her camicia della fortuna (lucky shirt)- a silk shirt worn on babies when they’re born to signify good luck in her future. This was gifted by an Italian friend.

In the meantime, I hope Leah will let me have some time to run to the bathroom. She seems milk drunk now. I guess that’s my cue. 🙂